Today is not a NSD!

WishIwasstill25

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while, picking up some fabulous tips on becoming mortgage free. I'm hoping starting a diary will help me stop playing at it, and become a little more serious.

I'm going to find NSDs particularly difficult, because I've never thought of it that way before - please will you help me keep on track?
Time is also very precious to me as I work long hours, in an exhausting job, my evenings involve catching up on work and sleeping....

I'll introduce myself a little, if I may?

I'm not 25 anymore, although I wish I was, there are a number of reasons for this, I'll fill you in another time.

I work full time in the public sector, middle management. Husband is self employed in the entertainments industry, we don't have any children. We live in the inner city in the north, in a gorgeous Victorian terrace, which we both love. We want to be mortgage free so that we have a property to prop up our retirement income, so are planning on effectively starting again on the property ladder when this one is paid off.


So, the key facts;

Student loan: approx £3000 to go, but payments taken out of my salary.
Mortgage: £49,336, approx 50% LTV, 15.5 years to go, but we have been overpaying, so I suspect it is less than that already. Fixed rate of 4.49% until April 2016
Personal loan: £2750, 10payments to go (was a little silly with my spending last year, so consolidated debts into the personal loan, I know I could have taken out a 0% card! but I was too scared that I would just spend on it as well)
Credit card: £0

Savings:
Rainy day fund: £810 (husband has a bigger 'rainy day fund', as he's self employed I take care of all the regular bills, he deals with treats & one off big stuff, like a new car for me)
Christmas savings :£150 (£50 a month put in)
Summer holiday spends: £400 (£50 a month put in)
Inheritance: approx £12-15k locked away with ns&i - although it's my money to spend, I would always check with my mum before using it, and would always want it to go on something I would keep forever and see - I think mum would prefer that I spent it on topping up my salary whilst taking maternity leave though!

My goodness, this post is massive. Last bit I promise:

Today was not a NSD becuase:
Hubby broke the suitcase whilst away last week, and is going away again on Wednesday £70 (from his income, and probably a business expense?)
Once we had purchased said suitcase we stopped for coffee.... £6 ish from the joint 'spends' account.

To counteract this.....
Tonight's roast dinner has resulted in 3 portions for the freezer & some meat for a curry or pie
PAD to the rainy day fund of about £10 as I had some cash back from using my debit card as well as the odd pennies.

To improve my MFW status:
Ring the mortgage company to find out how to set up a 'bill payment' from my current account, as I've only got a standing order set up at the mo.


Thanks for reading.

Wish25

Lois_E

Hello Wish and welcome to MFW :wave:

If you're not 25, dare we ask how old you are????

Lois_E

I notice on SF's thread that you say you are fed up with marking. Do we have another teacher in our midst? If so, you're joining quite a crowd of us. :wave:

WishIwasstill25

Hi Lois....

You can ask how old I am, But early 30s is the new 25 right? And because of my chosen profession, which you picked up on so clearly, I probably look about 300......

Thanks for stopping by.
:hello:

WishIwasstill25

Today's MFW update

I'm sure I won't remember to do this everyday, but it is only day 2.


I got a little obsessed with an overpayment calculator earlier on. As we've been playing at this overpayment game for a while I was curious to know how much we've already reduced our mortgage term by. It's a bit rough, as we went on a variable rate for a while, but in nearly 10 years, having been overpaying for about 6 (I think) we've reduced our term by 4 years and 5 months. I thought that was pretty good. Especially as we didn't know you could over pay in the first 4 years, or I think we would have done, even if it was just a little bit.

Quite exciting, and now I have a better idea where we are up to.

So...

Today was not a NSD because:
I owed some money at work, which I paid off
And a colleague is leaving soon, so I put in the collection for them.

To counteract this:

I set up a bill payment to my mortgage from both of my current accounts, and transferred a little from both.

Over the weekend I made soup & fruit salad, and portioned it into 5 lots of both, so it's ready for lunches this week (stopping the all too easy, pop out at lunchtime, or eat from the canteen)

I've also had a letter from ns&i today (must have been psychic) saying that one of my investments is maturing in April and asking what I wanted to do.
I rang them up, because I had lots of questions, and it's all sorted
Reinvest 95% of it for the next three years
Cash in the remaining 5% and throw it in the mortgage pot.

To improve my MFW status:

Stop 'borrowing' money taken out of the bank to pay the cleaner.
This means that I usually have to take more money out of the bank to pay her, because I've spent it on nothing.

Thanks for reading, it's already keeping me on my toes....

Lois_E

Early 30s ... still a lot younger than me.

nattypants

And me:(

I wish I was still 45!!!! Oh, I would also like a cleaner.... can we trade please?

WishIwasstill25

Hi Nattypants & Lois - thanks for dropping by :hello:

I'm hanging onto the cleaner, sorry - she is my life saver, not just because she cleans, but because Husband has a tidy up before she comes to clean. When I did the cleaning I had to do all the tidying first - took me hours.
She really is a dream

I guess I can't complain too much about my age, but with an August birthday, and having super powers (have you seen the social media picture 'I'm a teacher, what's your super power?'?) I'm torn between wishing this part of the year away - come on summer hols! and hoping it slows down to a snail's pace…..

WishIwasstill25

So today was not a cheery day….. It's been raining all day

Today was not a NSD because….

I paid a visit to the local 'membership warehouse'
I had one thing on my list, and 2 things to pick up for colleagues.

My extras then included…

Shampoo & Conditioner: I am nearly running out, but I was going to just use up the bits and bobs from holiday bottles….

Anti-Stink for the husband - Yup, wise purchase…..

Toilet rolls - they were on offer - you should NEVER run out of toilet roll, nor should you ever pay 'full price'

Dry shampoo - I've always wondered if it was any good - SIL says it is….. (really should not have purchased this….)

I only stopped there because I had promised myself that I would be honest and truthful to this world full of strangers, and I was starting to feel a little ashamed…..

A £92 total spend, but only £46 that I won't get back from others, this ladies & gents is why I am not mortgage free.

To counteract this:

URM…. URM…. URM…..


To improve my MFW status:

Please can you help?

I get the home time munchies, I don't feel hungry until I get in the car and hit the commuter traffic. Then it hits me, a feeling as though I haven't eaten all day, that I can't possibly survive tillI get home without eating anything, I must just eat, food, now!

What can I keep in the car to munch on the way home that:

Isn't going to blow my slimming world eating plan?
Doesn't require me to stop off at a shop/supermarket/drive in? (I know a lot of my 'nothing' spends have gone on this in the past)
Isn't overloaded with fats/sugars/carbs

All suggestions gratefully received, (but I don't eat nuts)

Thank you all.

Wish25

Lois_E

WishIwasstill25 wrote: »

Hi Nattypants & Lois - thanks for dropping by :hello:

I'm hanging onto the cleaner, sorry - she is my life saver, not just because she cleans, but because Husband has a tidy up before she comes to clean. When I did the cleaning I had to do all the tidying first - took me hours.
She really is a dream.

I have a cleaner too. I don't have a husband to tidy up for her, but I do find my kids take more notice of me when I want them to help me tidy up for the cleaner than when I just want them to tidy up because I say so. I couldn't manage without her.

Hurdler

Another one with a cleaner too - and I tidy too. One of my friends thought I was barking until I pointed out they are paid to CLEAN not tidy ... So if they have the detritus of my life all around they just clean round it or worse tidy stuff away and I never find it again.